


Voltron Legendary Defender-Unexpected Dilemma

by Bluepaws2011



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-08-26 16:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16685152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluepaws2011/pseuds/Bluepaws2011
Summary: The Paladins are still battling the Galra Empire, fighting to conquer Zarkon. These are their adventures in outer space, struggling to cope with uncovered secrets and revealed inheritances.





	1. Stranded

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s note  
> Abandon all of which you think you know. My story doesn’t really follow the plot of the show at all, so don’t rely on your knowledge of the show since it’s not going to help you here. Enjoy.

Lance stifled a yawn, tan jaw trembling in obedience. Ocean blue eyes were half masked, and lanky limbs covered in blue and white armor, loosely gripped the joysticks and pedals. He tugged tiredly at the collar of his black undersuit that peeked out from underneath the white armor plates. The dark blue accents absorbed the holographic lighting that lit the cockpit in a calming blue. The blue v painted across the breastplate reflected proudly in the dim lighting. A dark blue helmet rested on his tousled hair, a glass panel shielding his eyes and thick lines of white outlining the edge of the blue. Lance rubbed his eye with his fist, man, he was exhausted. After several grueling hours of training with the lions, it felt nice to finally relax. As the paladins headed to their separate hangers, alarms blared and red lights painted space’s black canvas a crimson red. Eyes wide, Lance jerked around to face the bombardment of purple enemy fire. 

Dark navy blue and purple ships of varying lengths flooded the surrounding space. Purple lasers whizzed through the air as the paladins scattered, hoping to draw the attack away from the Castle of Lions. The protective blue glow of the particle barrier flickered in and out, exposing the slick streamline walls of the pearl white castle. 

“Princess, open a wormhole immediately.” Shiro’s concern bled into his command, interlacing with tones of anxiety and determination. “We will cover you.” 

“NO!” She argued, “I refuse to leave the paladins of Voltron behind while I get to safety.” 

In the corner of his eye, Shiro could see the frown adorning Allura’s dark features in the Black Lion’s holographic comms. He knew that her stubborn pride was rearing its head and would present problems for everyone, allowing the enemy to gain the upper hand. Across the comms, her blue and pink speckled eyes narrowed in frustration, the pink marks under her eyes crinkling with concentration. 

Amidst the explosions and laser fire, Lance’s voice crackled across the comms, “There’s too many of them, Princess.” Lance’s voice was devoid of all joking manner, leaving the atmosphere heavy and tense. 

“If you don’t leave now, the castle will fall and then we won’t have a safe haven to return to.” 

Allura heard a mess of jumbled words from her paladins, urging her to escape. Coran’s teal blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears, orange mustache twitching suspiciously as he turned part way to face her. 

“Princess, the particle barrier is gone. All defenses show critical damage, and the teleduc can only withstand one more jump, Your Highness. I beg of you, please listen to Shiro.” Coran begged, voice cracking. 

Allura, her elf-like ears tense, gave a sharp nod, “Very well. Coran, begin sequence for wormhole jump.” 

The team was left with the image of Allura standing regal and alone, shoulders straight, the circlet of metal resting on her forehead, a display of her status of a princess. Only Coran could see the slight trembling of her shoulders, buckling under the weight of the universe. 

“Alright, Team. Cover the castle.” Shiro commanded sternly while dancing through outer space, avoiding laser fire left and right. 

Hunk stood guard in front of the castle, massive metal body taking hits, the yellow paint chipped and scarred. Pidge and Shiro were using their jaw blades to inflict damage on the command ship. The red and blue lions were fighting side and side using their twins beams of fire and ice respectively to take out the fighter droids. Once the castle of lions had safely wormholed away Hunk rejoined the fighting. 

“Shiro, where do you need me?” He asked over the comms. 

“Hunk smas-!?” 

“KEITH! LOOK OUT!” Lance shrieked before ramming into the red lion, effectively pushing it out of harm’s way, only to have the purple lighting strike the blue lion instead. With a high pitched whirring, the lights in the cockpit dimmed to nothing, trapping Lance in unforgiving darkness. The Blue Lion stood motionless, drained of all power, it’s bright eyes void of all life. Hunk felt his heart shatter a little as he caught a glimpse of the majestic Blue Lion limp in the cold clutches of outer space. 

“Lance!” Keith screamed in borderline hysteria as he struggled to regain control over Red. Lance’s push had forced them to spin uncontrollably in the zero gravity of space. 

“Hunk, Change of plans. Recuse Lance.” Shiro commanded, even in the unexpected circumstances he was calm and collected. 

“On it!” 

Hunk quickly sped after the large mechanical blue lion and its paladin. The lightning bolt had sent Blue hurtling toward the closest multi-colored planet. As the planet’s gravity was pulling them to its surface, Lance felt the temperature skyrocket, easily slipping into the 100s degrees Fahrenheit. Due to its fall, the Blue Lion somersaulted, allowing Lance a nice view of the Yellow Lion approaching him, which prompted him to whoop. 

“Woo hoo! Alright, baby. Come to Lancy, Hunk!” The sound reverberating as it echoed within his helmet. 

Hunk managed to nab Lance, but as soon as Yellow’s huge metal paws clamped onto Blue’s armor, another lightning bolt shot out, sizzling across Yellow’s back. Hunk groaned as another Lion, more specifically his lion, lost power. 

“HUNK!” Pidge shrieked, her voice cracking as she saw the yellow lion join the blue lion in its downward spiral toward the closest planet. Distracted by her fear of losing her friends, no family, Pidge failed to notice the purple lightning bolt till it was too late. The bolt struck the Green Lion in the chest, throwing Pidge hard against her chair. Before the video comms blinked out Pidge caught a glimpse of the purple of a fighter droid before it slammed into her lion’s jaw, nearly sending her flying from the controls. 

“Pidge!” Keith screamed before launching himself forward towards the downed lions.

“Keith, STOP!” Shiro demanded. Keith froze at the harsh tone.

“B-But the t-team.” Keith whimpered.

“Will be fine. Their lions will protect them, but right now I need you to help me take out the Ion cannon, that’s where the lightning is coming from.”

Keith drew in a deep breath before he nodded. “Alright.”

“Good to have you back on board. Alright, here’s the plan.” Shiro said, dodging bolts of purple lightning. “I’ll distract the Galra while you take out the rest of the fighter droids. Then I want you to take out the cannon.”

“Got it, Shiro.” 

“In anyway possible.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro saw Red pounce on the last few fighter droids, smashing them to smithereens, before swooping underneath the belly of the command ship. A flicker of red emerging just behind the cannon. 

‘Come on,’ Shiro thought, as he danced through the stars a black twirl amid the purple streams of lightning. ‘Just a little longer.’ He could feel sweat trickling down the side of his face, clinging to the sharp incline of his jaw.

With a flash of red light, Shiro saw Keith activate his jaw blade, slicing through the base of the cannon. In its dying breath, with one last mighty surge, the Ion cannon shot out one last bolt of electricity. It struck Black directly in the face, cracking one of her eyes. Her bright eyes dimming as her power was sucked away. 

“SHIRO!” Keith desperately screamed. He watched in shock as the black lion started to free fall towards the closest planet. Just as he was about to pursue, the cannon exploded in a fizzy of purple lightning, blue fire, and sound so damaging, it left a sharp unpleasant ringing in Keith’s ears. The deafening boom was the last thing he heard before he cracked his head on the console and darkness pervaded his vision. 

Shiro’s eyes fluttered open and he blinked several times to help them adjust to the dim lighting. He shook his head a little bit to help clear away the fog in his mind. A shock of white hair tickling his eyelids. Logically, Shiro knew he was still in Black’s cockpit, even surrounded by near darkness. Judging by the lack of response, after decently shaking his controls, Shiro gauged that Black would need to recharge in the Castle of Lions. Then it dawned on Shiro that the rest of the paladins were being awfully quiet. 

“Team, STATUS REPORT!” He yelled into his helmet comms, voice filling with panic and cracking at the end. His command was met with a beat of silence, then a groan and coughing. 

“Yeah,” cough cough, “I’m here.” Hunk’s voice, low and gravely, blending into the cacophony of static.

‘Thank goodness.’ Shiro sighed in relief. ‘But what about the rest of the team?’ 

He heard a whimper through the speakers in his helmet. 

“I’m,” wheeze “Here too.” Shiro heard Pidge say in between gasps.” 

“Good, have either one of you heard from Lance or Keith?” 

“...No…”

“Nope.” 

Tink...Tink...Tink... A tapping sound could suddenly be heard through the comms.

“Do you guys hear that?” 

“Yes.” 

“Yeah.” 

‘What is it?’ Shiro thought, ‘It sounded familiar.’ 

Suddenly, Hunk gasped, “I-it’s morse code.” 

“Well, what does it say?” Pidge huffed.

“Give me a minute, it’s been years since I last used it.” 

Shiro could hear Pidge groan in annoyance over the headsets. 

“Here we go.” Hunk said slightly shakily as he spoke every letter he heard. “...S...O...S...space...L...A-!?”

Suddenly Keith’s voice surged through the comms, flooding everyone with a barrage of static.

“Keith to Voltron! Team status report! Hello? Is everyone alright?!?

“Keith,” Shiro tried to calm him down but was cut off as Keith seemly ignored him. “W-!?”

“Hello!? Guys if this is a prank, it’s not very funny. Someone just ANSWER me!!” 

“Kei-!” 

“SHIRO!? HUNK!? Allura!? Coran!? Pidge?...Lance?” 

Now Keith’s voice gained an edge of desperation to it, filled with panic.

Shiro sighed in exasperation, concluding that Keith was ignoring them and heard Pidge speak up. 

“I think his speakers are broken, he can’t hear us.” 

“Ah, can you fix it?” Turning the question toward Pidge. 

“Yeah, I can fix it, just not remotely. Besides my Lion isn’t even online, how am I supposed to transmit any data at all?” 

Shiro could barely hear Pidge over the onslaught of Keith’s words, bombarding them with questions and sounds. 

“Why don’t you mute his channel?” Hunk suggested. 

“Good thinking, Hunk.” Shiro praised as he pushed a few buttons on the side of his helmet, silencing Keith’s voice. 

Shiro then turned his attention to the problem at hand.

“Umm...Shiro?” Hunk’s voice sounded timid.

“Yes, Hunk?” 

“I figured now was a good time to mention, I can’t feel my arms.”

“What?!” Pidge squawked. At the same time, Shiro questioned, “What do you mean?” 

“I can’t feel my arms, no that’s not true, there’s a slight numbness but I can’t move them.” Hunk repeated, his voice trembling slightly, filling with panic. 

“How long ago did the numbness start? And does anything else hurt?” Shiro asked, his voice full of concern. 

“Wait…”

“What?”

“Why are you just telling us this NOW?” Pidge said accusingly. Shiro got where she was coming from, he was curious as well as worried. 

Hunk sighed. “At first we were just responding to show that we were alive, then between Keith’s and Lance’s abrupt interrupting. I didn’t get a chance.” He finished with a whimper. 

Shiro sighed, “Well, at least now we know. Pidge, what about you?” 

“I’m fine, but my helmet got damaged in the fall. It’s completely dark.” 

“Kinda like when Coran switched them to training mode?” Hunk asked, in his warm chocolatey voice. 

“Yeah.” Pidge clarified, while nodding her head, though no one could see it. 

“Speaking of Coran,” Pidge continued. “Can you get a hold of him or Allura, Shiro?” 

Shiro mentally slapped himself, why didn’t he think of that sooner? He was the leader, after all, he had to take care of these kids. Shiro tapped a few buttons on his helmet. 

“Allura? Coran? Do you copy?” His question was met with static. Undiscouraged, He tried once again.

“Coran? Allura? Come in.” Once again, static buzzed in Shiro’s ears. 

Shiro sighed, rubbing his hands over his scarred face. “Alright Team, it looks like we’re on our own.”

‘Well this wasn’t the first time we’ve lost contact with the castle, nor unfortunately, would it be the last. Though things could be worse and we’ve dealt with worse before.’ Shiro thought thankfully. 

As soon as the thought popped into his head things, did in fact, get worse. Shiro heard a cringe-worthy shrill screech of metal against stone, accompanied by a terrified yelp. 

“Pidge! Are you alright!?” Shiro all but demanded into the comms. 

“Yeah...I-!?” Pidge was cut off by several twangs and a startled yell from Hunk. 

“Pidge! Hunk! Get out of there NOW!” Shiro roared. “And keep your helmets ON. We don’t know if this atmosphere can sustain human-life!” 

“Roger that.” Shiro heard Pidge squeak, while Hunk grunted an affirmative. 

Ignoring the darkness of the cockpit, Shiro closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds emanating from his helmet. He heard grunts, scampering, and the occasional curse. He bit his tongue, resisting the urge to tell Pidge off for her language, but right now she didn't need any distractions. At one point Shiro heard clanks, which sounded suspiciously like rocks bouncing off metal; a few seconds later, a huge splash. Shiro tapped his fingers anxiously against the console, waiting for the appropriate time to ask for a status report. He waited 3...5 minutes, then all he heard was heavy breathing over the comms. But since there were no other sounds indicating immediate danger Shiro decided to speak.

“Hunk, Pidge. Status report.” 

“Wet, but alive.” Hunk’s voice came through the comms, slightly breathy. 

“Little scraped up, but still in one piece.” Shiro heard Pidge mumble.

“Good, what about the Lions? What’s their status?”

Hunk signed, “When we crashed, Yellow landed in a forest. Unfortunately, she was still offline and I ended up evacuating to a river beneath her.”

“I still don’t quite get it, where on Earth was your lion that warranted you to jump into the river, underneath her?” Pidge cried exasperated.

“... Do you really want me to answer that?...” 

“...” 

“...sigh... When my lion landed in the forest, she got tangled in several hundred vines. She was suspended in midair about 30 feet, I had to jump.” The last sentence was said in an apologetic tone. 

“Hunk....Why didn’t you just climb down?” Shiro asked, worry lacing his voice.

Hunk gave a half-hearted chuckle. “I can’t move my arms, remember? And did you know,” He rambled on. “That it is very difficult to open a trapdoor without the use of your hands? I had to use my shoulder. That’s why it took me so long.” 

“Ah, Pidge?” Shiro asked, dad tone slipping into his voice. “Where did you land?” 

“In a canyon, I think. Green got stuck between two canyon walls and I had to climb up one of them.” 

“What do you mean ‘think’?” Hunk asked, his voice cracking at the end.

“My helmets’ broken, remember? I can’t see out of it.” 

“Oh...right.” Hunk said sheepishly.

After a moment's pause, Hunk gasped. “You climbed up a rock wall, even with your helmet like that?”

“Yeah, I’m not some little daisy who topples in the wind.”

Shiro chuckled, everything was going to be fine. Hearing the sound of popping mud, Shiro quickly glanced down to see sky blue mud oozing into the cockpit and pooling at his feet. Shocked he tried to stand, but his legs weren’t responding, causing him to land in the goopy mess. Panic set in, causing his chest to tighten. Shiro clawed at the walls of the cockpit, leaving streaks of strangely colored mud, desperate to get out. He began dragging himself across the mud-covered floor, coating the front of his otherwise immaculate black and white armor in a thick layer. He hurriedly swam through the mud towards the emergency exit, but the thick mud was heavy and slowed him to a crawl. When he finally made it to the bottom of the ladder, he stopped to catch his breath, chancing a quick glance behind him. 

The mud was ever so slowly rising, causing his breath to shorten into sharp gasps. Shiro then hauled himself up the ladder using only his arms, his legs dangling uselessly underneath him. At the top, he used one hand to open the hatch while the other one gripped the ladder rung, shaking with effort to hold him steady. ‘Now those training exercises come in handy,’ Shiro thought bitterly. He grunted as he hauled himself out of the black lion, scraping his armor over the lip of the exit. Once he was sitting on top of the magical creature, he took a moment to look around, choosing to ignore the constant bombardment of his teammates’ questions. Black sand spread out on all sides as far as the eye could see; he was surrounded by desert. 

Shiro glanced down and sighed in defeat, an unpleasant growl gurgling in the back of his throat. The black lion was almost completely submerged in the sky blue pool of mud, and sinking rapidly. Only the top of her head, the place where Shiro was sitting, was free. Swearing silently, Shiro quickly activated his jetpack, launching himself off the black lion just as it fully sank beneath the thick, bubbly mud. Daringly Shiro took one last backward glance, and saw the translucent bubbles ethereally rise out of the mud, marking the place of the fallen Lion.

Tearing his eyes away, Shiro returned his attention to the task at hand. Right now safety was his highest priority. He leaned forward, urging his body to be more aerodynamic. No such luck, his legs dangled uselessly from his hips, no strength left in them whatsoever; throwing Shiro off balance and forcing him to keep a weird ‘L’ shaped posture. He strained his eyes, scanning for the edge of the mud pit. Finding it, he quickly closed the distance between himself and the shoreline. Moments from the shoreline his feet skimmed the surface of the sky blue mud and entangled them in its gooey clutches. 

Shiro stalled and slammed chest first into the hard packed sand, forcing the air out of his lungs. Gasping for oxygen, he struggled to claw his way fully onto the half-baked sand. All the while the mud latching onto him trying to drag him down. With one final grunt, Shiro yanked himself out of the mud. He flopped onto his stomach, exhaustedly panting. During the ordeal, Shiro could hear Hunk and Pidge shrilly bombarding him with questions. He had ignored them to the best of his ability, too wrapped up with his escape attempt. But now that there wasn’t any immediate danger, he was able to answer. 

“Pidge, Hunk, don’t worry I’m fine. Black just fell into a mudpit.” Shiro reassured them. “Luckily, I was able to escape before Black sank.” 

“W...what do we d-do now, Shiro?” Pidge nearly whimpered, uncertainty lacing her voice. 

“Right now all we can do is roundup the rest of the team and protect ourselves as best we can from whatever else may be on this planet. We don’t know how long it will take for Allura and Coran to find us.” 

“Okay.” 

“Got it” 

“Now, Hunk. I want you to rescue Pidge and I’ll meet you there.” Shiro said. 

“Wait...why do I hafta wait for you guys? Why don’t I meet you guys halfway? Why do YOU have to come and pick me up, I’m not some damsel you know?” 

Shiro sighed. “Pidge, it seems you’ve forgotten, but your helmet is broken. And the last thing we need is for you to walk off the edge of a cliff. And last time I checked you’re stuck in a canyon full of them.” 

Pidge huffed. “Fiiiinnnnneeee...I’ll stay put.” 

“Good girl...see you guys in a little bit.” ‘Hopefully,’ Shiro thought, clinging to any hope he still possessed.

“Hardy har har, what a wonderful Space Dad you are.” Shiro heard Pidge reply sarcastically through the comms. 

“Yep, I totally agree.” 

Scrolling through his helment’s 3D map, Shiro pinpointed Pidge’s location. He sighed once more, glancing at his legs, before beginning to army crawl. Meanwhile, Pidge sighed, she hated that Shiro was right. She knew that if she fell while in the canyon she could get seriously hurt, but she couldn't just do nothing, right? Pidge knew their reunion would be faster if she worked her way towards them.


	2. Lava

Frustrated, Lance growled deep in the back of his throat when he was, oh so rudely, interrupted by Keith shouting into the comms. 

‘Seriously’, Lance wondered, ‘what is his problem?’ 

Unfortunately, Lance couldn’t verbally vent his annoyance, as he could make no sound at all. Even as he ‘growled’ earlier, no sound escaped his throat. Apparently, during the crash, he had injured his vocal cords when a large piece of shrapnel flew across his throat. He gingerly traced the jagged cut on his neck, blood trickling down the side and flowing onto his armor, staining the white plate a dusky red. Lance sighed, taking a deep breath, using the moment to calm himself and his frustrations. 

First things first, he needed to stop the bleeding. Luckily every Lion was equipped with the standard Altean first aid equipment. Standing up to retrieve the bandages, Lance’s foot slipped on a puddle of his sweat. That’s when he noticed the intense heat, even though his temperature regulated armor. He could feel the disgusting trails of sweat dripping down the side of his face, and every other part of his body, collecting on the floor of the cockpit. He moved his hand to wipe away the sweat threatening to slip into his eyes, only to have it bonk against the side of his helmet. 

‘Right, my helmet’s on and the visor’s down’ he remembered that with the helmet fully covering his face, there was no way to access it, unless he deactivated it via the control panel. Worried that the atmosphere wouldn't be human-friendly, Lance refrained from removing his helmet, even if the sweat was giving his cleanliness instincts the hebejebes. 

Even in the helmet, Lance’s breath became breathy pants. ‘Okay,’ pant pant, ‘I need to know where I landed and to figure out why the temperature regulator broke’, pant, ‘and hope that I can fix it. 

Temporarily forgetting about getting the bandages, Lance turned and patted the dashboard. ‘I’ll be right back, Blue.’ He lovingly thought before meandering over to the emergency exit. As the Lions were offline they couldn’t open their mouths which was a function reserved for the Lions themselves, the Paladins could only leave through an emergency hatch located in the ceiling just behind the pilot seat. Lance quickly scaled the ladder and opened the hatch with a flick of his wrist. He peeked out and was instantly blasted with a wave of supered heated, hot air. He gasped at the sudden rise in temperature, sweat rolling down his face in sheets, pooling at the bottom of his helmet. ‘Ugh, gross’ Lance whined in his head before he quickly scanned the area, trying to get a better gauge of where he was. 

Lance gurgled, ‘Not good, so very noooot good.’ 

Blue was currently draped over the rim of an active volcano, her forelimbs dangling towards the magma. Dark forest green lava bubbled and boiled in the crater, slowly rising, as smoke plumed out in dark ominous waves. Suddenly, with a rumble the rocks under Blue gave way a little and Blue shifted forward towards the green hot lava, causing Lance to shriek. Well, his mouth opened and his arms flailed, but no sound escaped his lips. Quickly, before Blue could shift again, Lance scampered up and bolted out of the hatch. He sprinted across Blue’s back. Blue shifted again, slipping and sliding forward emitting a sharp screech of metal scrapping rock. Lance stumbled a bit, but regained his balance, before urging his legs on faster, pouring on the fastest spurt of speed in his life. 

Heart thumping in his chest and lungs begging for air, even if the helmet regulated oxygen it wasn’t much help if disconnected from the pump. Lance was almost to the edge of the crater, a few steps from relative safety, when Blue tumbled forward, completely dislodged from her perch, rocks cascading in a shower around the Lion. Lance screamed, throat straining to produce noise before launching himself off of his Lion’s armor and slamming into the rock ledge of the crater. 

He clawed at the black stone, gloved hands struggling to find any purchase. He could feel himself slipping, the fabric tearing, exposing his coco brown fingers straining to grab onto the slick volcanic rocks as debris rained down, suddenly Lance’s chipped nails dug into a crack along the dried, molten rock and he was able to haul himself up. Once, he secured a more stable position for himself, and wasn’t about to fall, he whipped his head behind him, only to see the fleeting image of Blue cascading down the inner side of the volcano. 

‘BLUE!’ He screamed mentally. 

He visibly cringed as he saw Blue crash into a protrusion of rock, denting the already smoke stained metal, before ricocheting off and rolling the rest of the way down the side of the crater. Lance whimpered as he saw his beloved Blue slip into the lava pooled at the bottom of the volcano, a small splash erupting from where she fell in, droplets of green lava raining down in a shower. 

‘No, no, no, no! Blue.’ Lance sobbed, tears prickling at the back of his eyes. He took a shaky breath, eyes trained on the spot in the dark green lava below where Blue had fallen, lava bubbles popping and spurting to mark her imprisonment. Lance swallowed back his whine, closing his eyes to keep his tears at bay. A watery laugh with no sound escaped as he thought of a joke. ‘Love ya Blue, but not enough to take a lava bath with you’. Even that terrible joke did little to alleviate his grief.

A sudden rumble caused him to open his eyes again. The lava in the crater was rapidly bubbling and the heat intensified. In horror, Lance realized that it was going to erupt! Panic seized him and he cowered against the rock wall, muscles frozen stiff, before scrambling as fast as possible over the lip in the crater, to the mountain slope on the other side. Another rumble sent him skidding down the side of the mountain. His heart pounded a staccato beat in his chest as his lungs gasped for air, muscles yearning and screaming for the chance to stop. Lance sprinted onward, slipping and sliding as he lost traction on loose gravel. Another rumble shook the ground, heavier than before, causing Lance to stumble, scrambling to stay upright and on his feet. 

Lance almost regained his footing when the heel of his boot caught the edge of a porous rock and he tumbled forward. Instinctively he curled, performing a sloppy somersault, before landing back on his feet. It would do him no good if he fell now, not with an active volcano spewing smoke and ash behind him. Fear filled his eyes and he knew that if he fell now he might never get up again. A booming roar accompanied by a terrifying rumble of the earth quaking caused Lance’s legs to skid out from underneath him. 

He landed ungracefully onto his side, knocking the air out of his lungs with a great big whoosh. Luckily his armor mostly protected him, but as the quake grew Lance tumbled down the mountainside, bashing into sharp rocks, over and over. All Lance knew was that he could see a flash of silver sky before slamming into black volcanic rock, as he tumbled. Pain was all that Lance could register the moment his body rolled to a stop at the base of the volcano. Dizzily sitting up, Lance felt his stomach gurgling with displeasure. 

Lance groaned silently, ‘Great, now know I how it feels to be like Hunk.’ 

He sat there a couple of moments, attempting to catch his breath. He opened his eyes and stared unblinkingly at the cloudy grey sky. Suddenly, he saw a flaming stone blasting across the sky, leaving behind a trail of blazing light. 

‘A comet!’ He gasped silently in awe. Celestial bodies never failed to impress him, hell he even went to the Galaxy Garrison for them. Then he saw another one.

‘Wait...How the quiznack can I see them? 

The sky was covered with thick grey clouds, not a stripe of sky to be seen, yet Lance had clearly seen a flying meteor. Then an enormous rumble that even jousted his bones sounded and he glanced up, alarmed. 

‘Oh. Just some flaming rocks.’ Lance relaxed minutely, before his eyes widened comically wide. ‘They WEREN’T comets, oh nonononono, they were frickin FLAMING rocks!’ The meteors were erupting with increasing frequency from the volcano. Lance saw rivers of green lava leaking from between cracks in the volcano, spilling over the edge of the crater, raging like a flood towards him. Lance leapt to his feet, his body screaming in protest, blue armor stained to an almost unrecognizable gray color. Then he booked it as fast as he could caper. Head spinning without proper oxygen, lungs rattling with lack of air. His whole body felt as if it was being stabbed with pins and needles in almost every muscle. But he didn’t dare stop, stopping would mean certain death, and he was too young to die! Vaguely in the distance, Lance could make out a tall, luscious purple forest rippling in the wind. Sprinting turned into a harsh affair as Lance felt debilitating vibrations in the ground as the flaming meteors slammed into the soil all around him, threatening to squash him. It felt like a giant game of ‘Hey Mother Nature! Let’s kill Lance for fun!’ 

As the lava flowed faster and faster, creeping up on him, Lance used his jetpack intermittently to stay ahead of it. The forest steadily grew before him, becoming a gigantic presence looming over him. With one final push, Lance propelled himself headlong into the trees, only to notice the gorge, stretching out before his fleeing feet. 

Seriously! He must be dense not to have noticed the freaking mile long chasm sooner. Lance skidded to a stop a few inches away from the sheer cliff side drop. His arms frantically pinwheeling, barely able to keep him from toppling over the edge. For a terrifying moment, Lance thought he was about to fall into the dark abyss below. But he was able to regain his balance when he forced himself to squat, lowering his center of gravity and using one hand to rest on the edge of the rock, helping maintain that balance. He stole a glance backward and gawked at the approaching lava. 

‘Shit, shit, Quiznacking SHIT!’ Lance thought.

If he jumped then he might not make it across the gorge, It was 30 feet across. ‘But if he stayed…’ He pushed the thought out of his head. ‘Focus Lance, no need to elaborate on that.’ Hearing the viscous slither of popping lava Lance decides to screw it and launches himself across the gap, his jetpack blasting to the max.


	3. Waterlogged Flashback

Lance discovered that he really really disliked this occupational hazard part that comes with saving the universe, especially when his jetpack sputters while he’s suspended over god knows how deep a gorge. After the initial panic induced launch Lance tried to remain still and aerodynamic, but as his boosters failed he began to panic. Sure he had been in dangerous situations before, but not one where he plummeted to an unknown death among an opaque gray mist filled chasm, can you blame him? 

Needless to say, a panicked Lance is a silly Lance. Flailing his arms in huge windmill patterns, he kicked his legs out, resulting in an odd swim-like motion. A wordless cry for help failing to be vocalized, settling on the tip of his tongue. Slamming his blue armored fist against the hard metal of the jetpack, Lance elicited a shuddering groan from it and the jetpack flared to life again, rocketing toward the pale yellow trees rooted to the opposite edge of the chasm. Lance hit a tree reminiscent of an aspen head on, his right shoulder connecting solidly with the paper-like bark, while the rest of his body continued flying forward. 

He spun crazily from the hit, slamming sideways into another tree, before his jetpack gave an ear-wrenching whine and died, smoke billowing out of the boosters. Lance tumbled backward, propelled by momentum into an outcropping branch. He soundlessly screeched as his back emitted a sharp crack before bouncing off like a ping-pong ball, all the while gravity pulled its insidious strings. He knew the outcome of his next standoff with a tree; he would lose, painfully. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do, as the remaining momentum of his jump flung his grasping fingers past the tree branches. He slammed chest first onto a thick branch, forcing all the oxygen out of his lungs in a pitiful wheeze. 

He cried in silent agony, eyes squeezed shut, arms wrapping around the branch in a choke hold, the bark painfully digging into his fabric clad arms. For a few seconds, he hung there limply, legs dangling down, struggling to regain his breath. After a few moments his breath evened out and he opened his eyes; before quickly snapping them shut. Wonky vision was one thing, but swirling stars and blobby trees was not conducive to seeing straight or reducing nausea. A silent groan vibrated in his chest. Normally Lance wasn’t afraid of heights, but quiznack! He couldn’t even see the ground or the gorge due to the gray fog enveloping the landscape. Eyes clamped shut Lance slowly clawed his way down and around the trunk, fingers scratched and full of splinters. 

He cracked his eyes open once he had scaled down the almost aspen like tree. Glancing around Lance saw that he stood, albeit shakily, on a forest floor covered in pine needles, pine cones, and a myriad of leaf debris. He stood for all of two seconds before his knees buckled, sending Lance sprawling on his butt, arms locked at the elbows, the only thing keeping him from completely collapsing. The adrenaline drained from his system, leaving him numb and shaky. All the while during his wild escape from scorching lava and dangerous height ellipsing death Keith’s voice persisted in his ears. 

Lance laughed breathlessly, at least he knew Keith was alright, though there had been an ominous stretch of silence. The others had gone silent a while back, and Lance was sure that even if they had said anything, Keith’s loud panicked voice would've drowned them out. Lance stared a moment, eyes zoning out over the lava dripping over the gorge's edge, hissing and steaming as it dripped into the rocky chasm below. 

Silently Lance wondered how to communicate with Keith. Sure the mullet was annoying but hearing the desperation and fear in Keith’s voice struck a chord deep in Lance, reminding him that they were family He didn't know if Keith knew morse code. ‘Not that it mattered anyway,’ he thought bitterly, ‘Keith’s speakers were most likely busted. He wouldn’t be able to hear me even if I could speak.’ Lance pondered it a moment longer when an idea struck him. 

He smacked himself in the forehead, or rather his helmet’s forehead. ‘Of course, why didn’t I think of it sooner!? The helmets were enabled with a video call function.’ Lance just prayed that it hadn’t been damaged in his various tumbles that day. 

If Lance flipped his camera around and wrote a message in the dirt, Keith would be able to see it and actually reply. Lance grunted as he sat up straight, curling his legs in tighter to his body, arms relaxing, numb from the releasing their previous strain. Deliberately he glanced around, eyes peeled, vision still slightly blurry. Quickly he spied a somewhat thick branch that was perfect to write with as the ground was too hard and rough for his fingernails, not that he had any more fingernails at this point. Lance internally sighed at the terrible state of his nails, it would take more than a manicure to fix them. Stripping his branch of its still remaining silver and purple-veined leaves, providing a better surface to hold, Lance grinned. 

‘Yep! This'll do.’ For a second Lance was tempted to pretend sword fight before remembering the gravity of his situation. 

He scratched his message in the hard-packed earth, grunting faintly with the effort. Then his hands went to his ears, where the control buttons were located on the outside of the smooth metal. First, checking that the camera lense was intact and could encompass the entire message (it would be no good if Keith couldn’t read the whole message) Lance flipped the camera around and hit the call button. It shocked Lance when Keith answered the transmission after a few seconds, to see, a crimson water-like substance dripping from his soaked mullet and stringy, gooey yellow snot dripping from his nose. 

Lance was confused, maybe he hit his head a little too hard, but surely that image was wrong. ‘Keith would have been wearing his helmet, encasing him in an airtight bubble, nothing should be able to get in, unless it was blood.’ It took a minute but Lance noticed the glaringly obvious crack branching across the helmet glass, trailing from the dark-haired teen’s right eyebrow, skittering across his right violet eye and bridge of his nose to end midway across the left cheek. 

‘Oh,’ Was the most obvious first thought in Lance’s mind, the second was ‘How quiznackingly hard was he hit?’ Those helmets were practically invincible. Trust him, Lance had experimented, extensively.   
____________________________________________________________________________

Keith bit back a strangled yelp as the video call answer button burst into life across his helmet screen, distorted by the crack maring its surface. He quickly slammed the answer button, engaging the call. Keith blinked, confused for a second. Instead of the expected image of his teammate’s face, he saw a hurriedly scratched message written in the hard-packed earth, surrounded by oddly colored silver and purple forest loam. He tried to scan the message when the camera jostled and a blue gauntlet blurred across the screen. It moved a moment later revealing a hurriedly sprawled message underneath the first, careful handwriting progressing to become scribbled and barely legible. Scanning both messages, Keith recognized Lance’s untidy scrawl spelling out the words; Yo Keith, we can hear you but your speakers are broken, you can’t hear us. Is that BLOOD?! What happened? Keith cringed, thinking back to a few minutes ago.   
____________________________________________________________________________

The cabin was dark, only faintly illuminated by the glowing strips of emergency red lighting when Keith awoke. He groaned, eyes fluttering open to take in his dimly lit surroundings. It felt like he was back at the under Allura’s training regime, that’s how much his entire body ached. Wincing Keith rubbed a hand over his sore chest. He might have bruised a few ribs when he slammed into Red’s console during the attack. Keith blinked a few times, forcing his brain to process his situation. He glanced around the cockpit to see that all of Red’s screens were black, and no welcoming hum from his Lion. 

‘Great.’ Keith growled in frustration. ‘Just great, of course, there’s no power. It's never easy for me is it? 

It was then that he realized how disturbingly quiet his comms were. Typically there would have been some kind of status report by now. Fearing the worst he jerked forward, nearly screaming into the comms. 

“Keith to Voltron! Team status report! Hello? Is everyone alright?!?

Keith waited a few moments, maybe everyone was indisposed somehow? Keith knew he was grasping at straws so he tried again. 

“Hello!?” Now Keith was annoyed, “Guys if this is a prank, it’s not very funny. Someone just ANSWER me!!” 

Truly panicking now, Keith blamed the blood pounding in his ears that he was not to hear his own voice. 

“SHIRO!? HUNK!? Allura!? Coran!? Pidge?...Lance?” 

First, he called those who wouldn’t be in on such a cruel prank, but his voice fell to a whimper, still awaiting any response but none came. 

He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt liquid lapping against his ankles. He jerked his feet out of the dark blood colored water. He dearly hoped it was just a coloring effect from the emergency lights. ‘Why would liqui-Red’s armour must be cracked! Quiznack I need to find the leak.’ 

He silently cursed, as he wading in now knee-deep liquid. ‘It’s pooling too fast, I need to get out.’ 

Keith surged towards the emergency exit, urgency lending him the strength to pry it open with brute force. That was a terrible mistake.The hatch opened underwater and liquid pounded onto Keith’s shoulder, slamming him to the floor of the cockpit with a splash. His breath forced from his lungs in a fatal whoosh. He lay trapped under the tons of force provided by the waterfall of dirty crimson water. Sprawled in a painful position, arms and legs bent in awkward ways and body sealed to the metal floor, Keith cursed his cracked helmet. If only the helmet was sealed, then he would have no fear about breathing underwater. But now? Keith prayed for the flow to end quickly. He winced as the water pounding on his back sent pangs, like pins and needles, through the rest of his body. 

He cussed in shock when he felt the ice cold touch of water against his cheek and corner of his mouth, trickling in from the crack. Probably not the most intelligent decision Keith has ever made since when opened his mouth to utter the foul words, water rushed in. He sputtered and tried to buck upwards but the water kept him pinned to the floor, only managing to lash out in a sidewards motion. Thankfully, only a little water managed to squeeze into his helmet. After he dispelled the liquid from his system, Keith closed his mouth only breathing through his nose in an attempt to avoid a repeat performance. 

Unable to move out from under the harsh flow Keith could only wait for the water pressure to equalize. Precious ticks sped by, his helmet slowly filling as each one passed. Suddenly Keith saw the crack in his helmet widen from the pressure, allowing the liquid to surge into his helmet. Terrified Keith held his breath as the freezing water covered his nose, inching its way up to his eyes. Squeezing his eyes shut, heart threatening to burst right out of his chest Keith felt panic set into his stomach.

‘What if he died here?’

‘No!’ Keith pushed that thought from his mind, he would never give up until he found his answers. Keith could feel his senses start to fade, he had already lost the feeling in his toes. Then, just as his lungs begged for air, the pressure equalized and Keith shot towards the surface. He managed to squirm his way through the emergency exit without breaking his stroke. Upward he went, still holding his breath, as water continued slipping in through the crack. 

A beat or two later Keith’s head broke through the lake’s glass like complexion, sending little ripples scampering to the shoreline. He jerked his head back, allowing the water to pool at the bottom of his helmet, soaking his hair with its icy clutches. Keith gasped in large lungfuls of air, chest rapidly rising and falling. Panting slightly, Keith treaded water as he struggled to regain his breath once he could take more than just sips of air, he flopped onto his back, floating on the surface of the lake, conversing his energy. He even closed his eyes for a second, completely exhausted. After a few minutes, he flipped onto his stomach, scanning the shoreline for a place to land.

‘Good, it’s not too far.’ Grunting with exertion Keith grabbed a gulp of oxygen before speeding towards the shore with his fastest stroke. For a guy who lived in the desert all of his life, just knowing how to swim was impressive, even if he had no technique. It almost seemed like Keith was thrashing in panic as he forcefully propelled his body through the water, movements choppy and ineffective. Now in the sunlight, Keith clearly saw the crimson blood color of the lake. The water like substance was a thicker consistency as well, slowing Keith down. After five minutes of his harsh uncoordinated strokes, Keith hit the shoreline. He hauled himself up onto the fern-covered soft earth, coating his soaked armor in crumbly lilac soil. He rolled on his back, feeling the water in his helmet slid towards his hair as his lungs filled with the sweet relief of clean air. 

Keith considered himself fortunate that this atmosphere was human-friendly. As he felt his chest fully expand and contrast, he set about releasing his helmet to drain the collected water. He reached up and felt around for the clasp located at the base of his neck. His fingers grazed across the smooth surface of the suit, sliding eerily fast across the wet metal for a few moments before finally bumping the clasp. Quickly his fingers wrapped around the metal ends, straining to pry them apart, only to have his fingers slip multiple times. His nails scraping against the worn, somewhat rusted metal. Keith growled, the sound vibrating deep in the back of his throat and chest. 

‘Great,’ He grumbled, in exasperation. ‘It’s rusted shut, now I can’t even drain the water from my helmet.’ 

Keith sighed, closing his eyes, letting his mind work through the problem. Keith shivered, his ears numb from the prolonged submersion in the bone-chilling blood water. Suddenly an idea came to him and Keith quickly straightened into a sitting position. An action he regretted a moment later as he splashed the liquid sitting in the bottom of the helmet up his nose. 

Immediately he began to cough and hack, not that it did any good, as every time his body jerked to expel water the force of the motion would cause more liquid to gush into his mouth and nose. Finally, Keith coughed hard enough that his head ended up hung between his knees and the liquid dripped from his cheeks in rivelts to pool on the front of his helmet. As he panted, Keith realized his love for air after his many episodes of lacking it. 

‘Right, not doing that again.’ Keith thought as a shiver run up his spine. Slowly he tilted his head till he was facing straight ahead. He could feel the cold brush of the crimson water as it slide down his neck. Noticing his cracked helmet gave Keith an idea. 

He took a minute to just breathe, allowing his heartbeat a moment to slow down, maybe without the pounding in his ears he would be able to hear. Then he took one more breath. 

Then, quickly before he could change his mind, he flipped his head over, eyes squeezed shut and cheeks puffed out with oxygen. Slowly the water trickled from Keith’s hair to drain out the crack leaving his once submerged skin tickly and numb. Keith clawed at the ferns as time ticked on, eventually holding on with a white knuckle grip. So tight was his grip that he accidentally cut the plants with his nails, causing their sticky slime to ooze out all over his gloves.   
Desperate to spend as little time as possible upside down Keith ignored his bodily discomforts and focused on the water still in his helmet. He could feel his helmet get lighter and knew he was almost there. Red armoured arms shook with exertion as he grew light-headed. 

‘Come on, hurry up! Keith thought recklessly, hair plastered to his cheeks by the dripping water, ‘Just a little longer.’ 

He counted the seconds before the last bit of water drained away from his mouth and nose. 45. Almost a full minute of holding his head upside down. Gasping he collapsed onto his stomach, panting for air. The red paladin relished the sweet life bringing oxygen that graced his lungs. Slowly he opened his eyes; all he saw was blurry blobs from the excess water trickling down his eyelashes. The crimson water droplets trailed down the tip of his nose before splashing down to join the rapidly diminishing puddle in his helmet. 

Looking around Keith noticed that he sat in a veritable puddle of the liquid, and every movement sent little ripples to the edges. Keith saw the light purple ferns sway under the puddle’s surface, individual lavender leaves impossible to distinguish. Then just as the last of the water was dripping out of the red paladins’ helmet, he sneezed violently and shivered. Yellow gooey snot was plastered to the inside lower portion of the helmet and hanging out of his nose in long icky strands. 

‘Ugh.’ He thought, ‘just when I thought things couldn't get any worse.’ Keith couldn’t even wipe it away. Keith sighed, he hoped he wasn’t developing a cold, that was the last thing he needed.

He sat up slowly, like an old man, his body aching all over. He shuddered as droplets of crimson water slid down his spine, chilling him. Suddenly a video call button burst into life across his cracked screen.   
____________________________________________________________________________

Keith blinked his violet eyes owlishly, pulling himself out of his flashback. He glance at the call and bit back a yelp at the unexpected face of his concerned blue-eyed teammate. Apparently his flashback was long enough that Lance had reversed the camera to see him. Lance quirked an eyebrow, it’s meaning clear. ‘Well, aren’t you going to answer?’ 

Quickly the red paladin launched into a ressuraing explanation, Keith yet again blaming his adrenaline jacked heart pounding in his ears for his lack of hearing his own voice. 

Thankfully he could feel his vocal cords vibrating, so he knew that he spoke. Lance’s abrupt facial feature changes were yet another indicator that of speech. Lance’s face drained of color, blue eyes popping in the pale skin, as Keith retold his circumstances. He saw Lance cringe at his description of emptying out his helmet, a horrified expression plastered across his face. Then faster than Keith could blink, Lance’s camera snapped back around and the blue-clad hand blurred across the screen. No doubt Lance was scribbling out another message. Sure enough Lance’s hand moved out of the camera and a message lay in its wake. It read; can you stand? Keith huffed, why wouldn't he be able to? He hadn’t fallen and swimming wasn’t as exhausting as Alura’s training regime. 

“Yes.” He grunted before shakily getting to his feet. 

Keith’s lips twitched upward slightly at his small victory. Once again Keith focused his attention on the video call, only to see a new question written in the hard packed earth. Is your GPS system damaged? Can you lock onto my position? He grunted an affirmative, before messing with the buttons on the side of his helmet. After pressing a few he was able to effectively lock onto Lance’s position, indicated by the blue arrow pulsing in the upper right corner of his screen. 

Thankfully it was only slightly distorted by the crack stretching across his helmet screen. A silver blur from the corner of his vision caught Keith’s attention. Flashes of silver violet, which Keith identified as leaves of some sort flashed in front of the camera lense. A moment later they withdrew, revealing yet another hurriedly sprawled note. Good, and I got your position locked, if we keep walking toward each other eventually we will have to bump into each other, right? 

Keith nodded. “Good plan Lance, see you on the other side.” 

The silver violet leaves flashed across the screen one last time, bringing one final message; Good Luck, written in Spanish as buena suerte. Keith nodded in determination before heading off away from the lake where his lion lay submerged and strode in the direction of the blue paladin. 

Lance sighed with fatigue when he cut the call before wincing, one hand flying to his side, as he stood. 

‘Awesome,’ He grumbled silently. ‘I bet I bruised one of my ribs. Note to self: stop hugging trees, they don’t give nice hugs in return.’ He huffed before instantly regretting it as a splash of hot pain blossomed in his chest, before fading to a dull pain. 

‘This trip is such a joy already.’ He thought sarcastically as he began the trud through the silver violet forest. He was ecstatic to leave behind the volcano and its ‘turn Lance into a puddle’ lava, but also, subsequently leaving Blue as well. He grimaced at the thought of Blue being left behind, but there was scant he could do about it. 

Over an hour and a half later Lance found himself at the edge of the woods. During his entire trek Lance found his eyes glued to the sky. Trees of all kinds kept him company on the long trek; trees reminiscent of pine, maple, oaks, and aspens. Any type imaginable, even tropical varieties were present, the only difference between them and the ones that grew back on earth, Lance noted, was the coloring. 

These trees sported pearly white trunks with eye catchingly violet leaves that were covered under a thin film of silver glitter. Additionally silver violet pine needles were scattered across the forest floor, giving the ground a disco ball feeling. Fire-moss, named quite well by Lance, clung to the white as ash rocks, shifting in hue from yellow, to orange, and bright red. Black sand and a blazing red sun greeted Lance when he finally stumbled out of the bejeweled forest. He sighed silently when he realized he had to cross, an entire desert to get to Keith. Maybe he should just let Keith come to him? It’s not like he would know and it wouldn’t be good if either of them got heat stroke. But...was it wrong for Lance to want to be lazy? He was just conversing his energy, he argued with himself. If he didn’t have to travel the entire then why should he? But banishing those thoughts to the back of his mind Lance took a step onto the barren black sand.


	4. Silent March

Swirling plumes of sand drifted like smoke, obscuring the blue figure that trudged across the land. Lance sighed silently once again before continuing his long trek across the blackened desert. The heat was unbearable, beating down on Lance’s body with fanatic intensity. Sweat dripped down his face, only to pool at the bottom of his helmet. His armpits felt wet and irritated from the extra moisture, the black fabric of his armour sticking uncomfortably to his chafed skin. 

Only the pulsing light of his teammate’s red arrow pushed Lance onward through the shifting gritty sands. His teammates were his family, after all, he couldn’t lose even one of them, even if they were an annoying mullet. Gasping for air, Lance paused at the edge of a massive pit filled with disturbingly sky blue mud. He had just spent an hour or at least what he thought was an hour, time was wonky in the neverending blaze of sunlight and sand-battling his way through the black sand. All the while, powerful gusts blew sand harshly into his path, clouding the ground in front of him. 

When he could barely see his own feet Lance relied on the glowing red arrow that lit up his helmet screen. Again and again, Lance rose to his feet every time he fell, whether from tripping over little sand mounds or the sand crumbling out from under him, sending him flailing down sand dunes head over heels. His suit was entirely caked in the black sand, The gritty sand sticking to his sweat soaked body. Lance suspected that sand clogged his fans in the temperature regulation system. It would explain why Lance felt like a slowly melting gummy bear. 

Anyhow the mud hole was maybe ten meters across but more than three meters down, overflowing with the aforementioned disgusting blue mud. The only slightly appealing part was the glittery silvery tint to the surface of the mud. Lance glanced around the edge of the mud hole, his hand scrubbing at his helmet glass, hoping to brush some of the black sand away. Unfortunately, while he was hoping for a clearer view, he only succeeded in smearing the sand around, causing the glass to be even more streaked and dirty. Glancing around again, Lance squinted. According to the pulsing arrow, Keith should have been visible, but nowhere could Lance see a red and white paladin. 

‘Huh,’ Lance thought, confused. ‘Unless the helmets messed up, Keith should be right here.’ 

Lance bit his lower lip, brows furrowed in confusion and concern. He didn’t get it. Every sign pointed to Keith walking towards the mud pit, yet there was no Keith. Lance took another scan of the area. 

‘There!’ Lance thought triumphantly. 

There, clear on the other side of the mud pit stood a humanoid figured clad in midnight black armor. 

‘Of course, he’s not wearing red! Duh, black sand.’ For a split second Lance wondered what he would do if it wasn’t Keith, he shrugged, ‘I’d just ask him if he’s seen any of the others’. 

Lance waved both of his arms to gain the stranger’s attention before gesturing to the side of the mud pit. Lance wanted to walk as little as possible. His tree hugging experience had left him sore and aching, especially his ribs. There was a small burst of pain every time he took a breath. In reply, the distant figure gave him a thumbs up before making his way carefully over. 

‘Yep, most definitely Keith. No one else would know Earth slang and happened to coincidentally be in my location. Woot! Go me!’ Lance smirked to himself in victory as he carefully tread his way around the sandy rim. 

A short while later Lance stood in front of the black armored figure, presumably Keith. Opening his mouth the greet Keith, Lance remembered his distinct lack of sound and he closed his mouth with an audible click. Then an overly loud voice assaulted Lance’s ears causing the brunette to cringe. 

“Lance!?” 

He nodded, ears still ringing slightly from the encounter. 

“Are you alright? Why aren’t you speaking? You’re always talking!” 

Grateful as he was for the concern he heard in Keith’s voice, Lance held up his hand to quiet Keith. Then Lance pointed to his throat and with his other hand, he started opening and closing it as if it was a mouth before having the hand that was pointing to his neck clamp down on the talking hand, silencing it. 

“Ah, you’ve lost your voice, must have happened in the crash. That explains everything, make a lot more sense why you wrote in the ground. Not that it matters, my speakers were damaged during the fall, so I can’t hear you anyway.” Keith paused then asked hesitantly. “Any ideas on how to find the others?” 

He glanced around at the billowing sands, “Or frankly how to get out of this sand bowl?” 

Lance gestured to himself and Keith with his pinky and thumb, then he held up two fingers with one hand and three with the other. The hand with three fingers up swiped across his helmet before pointing in a direction, Lance then slowly moved both hands together. Once his hands were side by side, he kept them there a minute before allowing them to drop to his sides. Then he gestured to his helmet screen and flapped his arms up and down. 

“Oh, you want us to go find the others through the location device? And only the black lion has wings, so Shiro’s first?” 

Lance nodded his head yes.

“Alright, let’s go.” Keith directed. 

Lance put one finger up and Keith paused as Lance locked onto the Black Paladin’s location. As the seconds crawled by, Keith impatiently crossed his arms and tapped his foot, his normal scowl ever present on his lips, even though he knew that this was important. A few moments later Lance turned and gave Keith a thumb-ups, pointing to a direction where vague mountains were discernible. As one they took a step in the indicated direction, beginning their long journey home.   
____________________________________________________________________________

Naturally, Lance was bitter about the direction of their journey; across the mud pit and through god knew how long a desert. He kinda wished they had been able to retrace their steps but no, of course, they had to walk in a completely unknown direction for an unknown length of time. Cresting a dune and seeing only another expanse of black sand, Lance sighed unhappily in silence. As Lance stumbled down yet another mound of shifting sand, he couldn’t help but grumble sarcastically, ‘Admit it, the universe hates us, why else would it be so quiznackingly hard to regroup?’ 

Silence suffocated the pair as they marched through the dusty black sand. Lance struggled to keep his hands still, restless energy coursing through his veins. Sweat trickled down his forehead, pooling at the bottom of his helmet. Even Keith was unnerved by the silence. Don’t get him wrong, Keith loves quiet, but seeing Lance so uncharacteristically quiet unsettled him Yet there was nothing he could do about it; one of them couldn’t talk and the other couldn’t hear. It would be a pretty one-sided conversation, so the pair continued to suffer in silence and sweat. 

Maybe an hour or two later, judging by the sun’s movement, the black sand shifted from loose soft grit to hard packed stone and ocean blue rock formations rose upwards, stretching boney hands towards the sky. Hot wind blew ocean blue and bronze dust directly in their path, obscuring their vision. They walked a few more minutes before they stumbled across a cliff edge yawning down to a blue striped canyon valley. Both boys sighed, albeit one silently. The edge of the cliff dropped sheerly for 2 meters before leveling out in a sharp angle towards the canyon floor. It was a catch 22; either they leapt down the cliffs in the most direct path to the other paladins while risking bodily harm, which would hinder their efforts to help their teammates, or they took a different route with even more unknown dangers. 

They couldn’t see the bottom of the valley well either so if they went down and made unpleasant discoveries, it wouldn’t be so easy to scurry back up again. The two paladins, red and blue, glanced at each other before Lance held out his hand, unwilling to be separated from his teammate. Keith eyed the gloved hand for a long moment before firmly gripping Lance’s hand in his own. 

While it may be true that Keith didn’t exactly see eye to eye with Lance, he realized that a stubborn refusal to hold hands would result in wasting time finding each other again if they got separated on this godforsaken death trap of a planet. Seeing the greater good, for once, Keith held tightly to Lance’s fingers. Using his other hand, Lance held up three fingers, then two, then one. When he hit zero, a closed fist, both he and Keith jumped. Weightlessness clawed at them a moment and their hearts pounded heavily in their chests. A sharp, loud intake of breath blasted through helmets speakers for a mere moment before the pair of teenagers slammed into the slanted rock below. For a second they stood on their own feet. 

Then the gravel underneath their boots skidded out from under them, sending them crashing onto their bottoms and backsides. Lance gasped silently as the air was knocked out of his lungs and Keith cursed loudly and creatively as they slid down the rock formation, gravity increasing their speed to a breakneck pace. Keith clenched his jaw and fist, willing himself not to scream. He turned his head slightly to the left to catch a glimpse of Lance’s terror-filled face. 

Blue eyes wide open, surrounded by rims of white and mouth frozen in a scream. Stunned, Keith could only watch as the black sand ripped across their armor and a cloud of blue and bronze dust burst out behind them in a brilliant cloud. Keith grimaced as Lance crushed his hand and a particular brutal bump knocked the wind out of him in one fell swoop. Once he could breathe, Keith cracked his eyes open, blinking away the dust filtering in through the crack in his helmet. Seeing the end of the slope looming ahead his muscles tensed in anticipation of the crash. 

White-knuckled hands clenched each other, straining the alien armor to its breaking point. Quiznak! this misleading cliff! Lance screamed internally as they rocketed downhill. From the top of the cliff, it seemed as if the rock formation eased into a gentle slope near the bottom. But no, perspective had screwed them over. The slanted rock rested on a flat plateau; a steep angle absurdly changing to no angle at all. Keith bit back a curse as they plummeted closer to the plateau, he actually bit his tongue on accident. A shock ran up Keith’s legs and through his spine as his feet smashed into the plateau, ankles crying out in pain as they took the brunt of his momentum. Lance shuddered as his feet slammed into the hard packed blue alien rock, hand still tightly intertwined with Keith’s. They stayed on their feet for a second before their momentum pushed them forward, into a classic tuck and roll maneuver. Well, it would have been classic, if Lance hadn’t tripped over his own lanky legs and sprawled diagonally forward, dragging Keith down with him. The pair rolled a couple times, head over heels before rolling to a stop. Since their hands were still intertwined, they sprawled awkwardly with Keith's arm bent at an almost alarming angle, with both boys badly winded from the fall. 

Keith was the first to recover, groaning as he opened his eyes to view a splendid pink sky from his sprawled position on his back, head pointing toward the cliff that they had just slid down. He turned his head to look at Lance and was slightly shocked to see his feet instead, though the pain in his arm should have told him otherwise. Keith then tilted his head up, hissing under his breath as his muscles creaked in protest. From this better view, Keith saw Lance facedown in the dust, his head facing away from Keith. Keith stifled a yelp as he sat up, his bumps and bruises announcing their presence. He turned part way, still seated and glared at the offending rock formation behind them. 

He could clearly see the skid marks that he and Lance left behind, bronze stripes of granite mixing with ocean blue and white granite stripes. It was actually very striking and pretty, with the horizontal stripes of varying lengths, colors switching between bronze, ocean blue, and cream white. Lance shifted slightly, whipping his head around, Keith watched Lance closely as he grimaced in pain before clamoring unsteadily to his feet. Lance nearly fell over again as Keith remained seated, pulled by the weight of their interlocked hands. Keith quickly scrambled to his feet. He eyed Lance and the slow sway he was performing, not quite steady on his feet. 

“You okay?” He asked, concern lacing his voice. 

Lance gave him the universal gesture for ok, as he was too disoriented to nod. Keith raised an eyebrow but ultimately decided to let it go, in favor of finding the others. 

“Where to now?” He prompted. 

Lance tilted his head to the side, eyes somewhat glossy and unfocused. It took him a moment to respond, brow creased in contention, before gesturing off to the left. Keith nodded and the paladins continued on their journey trucking across the rocky plateau. 

All too soon, they faced their next obstacle: a cliff, overhanging a twenty-foot drop to a sparkling crimson pond. Predictably Keith scowled and Lance silently sighed, oxygen escaping his lips in a puff when presented with their next challenge. The rock slanted sharply inward from the cliff top to the shaded area of the pond. Since it was impossible to climb down the overhanging, the boys would have to use their jetpacks. 

Keith glanced towards Lance, cooperation was the only solution to bring them both to the pond without injuries. He was astonished to see Lance looking worse for wear. Armor scuffed and littered with scratches, tan skin drenched in sweat, mouth slightly agape and gasping for air, and eyes partially glazed over and unfocused. About to comment Keith paused when Lance sluggishly turned toward him, unfocused eyes struggling to concentrate on his face while tan lips attempted to form a smirk as if to say, ‘you ready Mullet?’ 

Unfortunately, the smirk wasn’t even half convincing. Something was wrong, but for the life of him Keith couldn’t figure out what it was. Just as he was going to suggest a break Lance’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his legs gave out from under him, his body crumpling to the ground. Keith shot out, positioning himself between Lance and the ledge, foot skidding slightly on the loose gravel. Lance twisted as he fell, back now facing Keith who managed to snag Lance under his armpits just before he hit the rocky ground. Keith sighed in relief, thankful that they hadn’t fallen over the edge. He gritted his teeth, everything would be fine, it had to be. 

Keith glanced down at his teammate, who’s head hung limply, like the rest of his body. Keith was about to stand, when the gravel underneath him crumbled, sending them tumbling through the dust-filled air. Keith instinctively latched tighter onto Lance, arms wrapped securely around Lance’s chest. Teeth gritted enough to hurt and violet irises glaring at the rapidly approaching foreboding dark crimson water. 

Lance floated limply, air resistance forcing them up from lack of control from the boy. Keith squeezed his eyes shut, his entire body tensed for impact. A moment later the pair crashed into the pond, causing a huge cherry red splash that kissed the lower fourth of the cliff.

All Keith saw was dark all-encompassing red, as they plunged into the water. He gasped as the air was knocked out of him, water trickling into his mouth from the crack in his helmet glass. Instead of choking on the water, Keith snapped his mouth closed with an audible click and swallowed the water that was already sliding down his throat. Keith ignored the burning and numbness of his muscles as he locked one arm around Lance’s chest and used his other arm and legs to propel him through the cloying dark water. 

His head broke through the surface of the pond in less than a minute, the water leaking into his helmet pooled at the nape of his neck. The Red Paladin kicked frantically, struggling to keep himself and Lance above the surface, maybe if the situation wasn't so serious he would have given Lance a snarky comment about his weight. But it was dire so Keith continued to paddle, glancing back ever so often to make sure they were still on track, heading toward the shore.

A grueling four minutes later Keith hit the shore, literally. He was just glad no sand made its way into his mouth. He dragged himself and Lance onto the bronze and blue stone shore, water streaming off their armour. Now that they were on solid ground, Keith scanned Lance more closely, once again cursing the crack in his helmet, skewing his vision. Keith nearly screamed in frustration as he used his left eye to access the damage. He didn’t look good. Lance’s tan cheeks were flushed red and dark purple bags were smeared under closed eyes. His cocoa colored hair was soaked with sweat, plastered to Lance’s forehead. His armoured chest rising and falling too fast for Keith’s comfort, mouth cracked open, his breathing labored and faint. 

‘Shit! What do I do?’ He thought, beginning to panic. He had basic medical training, but he couldn’t fix a problem he couldn’t see!

About the only thing he could do for Lance was to carry him to the others and hope he made it in time. Keith paused, contemplating the problem of carrying his slightly taller teammate. His frown deepened in thought. He heaved a sigh, sack of potatoes it was, hell if he was gonna carry Lance like a princess. 

He paused in the midst of lifting Lance as he realized he had no idea where to go, Lance had been directing them this entire time. Frustrated by the time he felt slipping away Keith brought his hand to his helmet, pounding a few buttons, waiting impatiently for the program to work, teeth anxiously gnawing on his lower lip. 

A moment passed before a pulsing arrow faded to life on his screen. A weak arrow, but an arrow nonetheless. Keith quickly and carefully slung Lance over his shoulder where he hung like a rag doll, arms and legs dangling uselessly. Keith began sprinting in the direction that the arrow indicated, pausing only when the arrow faded out. 

Then he would anxiously wait, bouncing on the balls of feet. Waiting for the arrow to return and guide him. Though he supposed, during a particularly long interval, that he should be thankful it worked at least part of the time. Given the level of damage his helmet sustained, he was honestly surprised that its location tracker functioned at all. Each time it did, the arrow look more faded, and the edges slowly deteriorated from crisp lines to static-filled ones, bending the arrow out of shape. 

Many dobashes later found the red armoured figure still running across the unending canyon of rock spires, breath ragged and sweat crusting to his face. Keith tried not to jostle Lance too much, he doubted he was successful. Suddenly all the panic from earlier crashed down on Keith. Of course he was hurting Lance! There was literally no way he wasn’t, especially since he was rushing to get to his teammates before his helmet gave out, stranding both him and Lance in this quiznacking maze! Keith turned his focus to his arrow, little more than a blob of static at this point. Which promptly dispersed, shattering into little dots of static before winking out of existence. The red paladin’s lithe body cut an odd sight as he literally hopped from one foot to the other, anxiously waiting for the arrow’s return. Though a gut feeling told him otherwise. 

He took a deep breath, patience yields focus. He needed a level head if he wanted both of them to survive this ordeal. 

Keith looked up and spotted a black blob in the distance a little to left. He squinted, hope flared as he realized it could be one of his teammates. He started off in that direction only to stop a moment later, dread filling his stomach as he remembered that they were on a hostile planet. If whatever it was threatened them he had no chance, especially burdened with Lance. Quickly he laid Lance along the rocky ground, out of the way and protected if it came to a fight. 

The dark-skinned Cuban slowly cracked his eyes open, focusing on Keith after a moment of confusion. A ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips. Irrationally Keith felt the urge to slap that smirk right off his face. Though it was a normal thought for the dark haired boy. Instead, Keith set his features to neutral mask, asking, “Can you stand?” 

Lance’s ocean blue struggled to focus on the violet ones glaring at him, eyes glazed over and drooping, yet he managed a weak thumbs up. 

“Nope,” Keith popped his “p”, drawing Lance’s fading attention. “I can tell that you’re gonna collapse again, and hell if I let you scare me again. So I’m carrying you. Your job is to keep your eyes open, got it?” 

Lance weakly held up a trembling hand, showing a thumbs up before it dropped back down along with his eyelids. Keith shook him as his eyelids fluttered closed. 

“Lance! What did I just say??” Keith scolded. Lance responded by opening his eyes a fraction. Keith nodded his acceptance, “Good job buddy.” 

He stood, hoisting Lance onto his back, arms underneath his legs, while Lance’s arms draped down Keith’s front. He needed to see Lance’s eyes to make sure he stayed awake as well as leave his arms open to fight. Clearly, something was wrong with Lance Keith knew enough medicine to know that letting him sleep after hit to the head could make it worse. Even though he failed the first time since Lance just collapsed out of nowhere, Keith was determined to protect his teammate at all costs. Wearily the red paladin sighed, beginning his trudge towards the black blob.


	5. Doubt

As Keith neared the black blob, it morphed into a humanoid figure wearing black and white. Only one person wore armor in that color, but why he was laying on his stomach was another question entirely. Keith discarded the thought as he called their fearless leader’s name in relief. 

“Shiro! We found you!” 

Said person jerked his head back, staring wide-eyed at his teammates over his shoulder. Never in million years did he think he would see Keith carrying Lance, much less without any bickering between the two. He paused waiting for Keith and Lance to catch up to him, neck straining as he tried to catch Keith’s eye as he moved closer to his position. Keith knelt as he neared their leader, still holding Lance on his back. 

“Shiro, why are you crawling on the ground?” Keith growled, anger masking his growing concern, before he closed his eyes, eyebrows pinched in frustration. 

“Let me guess, you’re injured too?” Keith sighed, “Why can’t the universe play nice just for once?” This last part was muttered under his breath with clear annoyance 

Shiro casted his eyes downward in charging, examining the bronze stone beneath him as if it was the most important thing in the world. Since in fact, he was injured and it wasn’t one he could play off as nothing, he couldn’t walk for quiznackings sake! Shiro sighed, dragging a hand down the front of his helmet, the other arm keeping him prompted up. 

“Sorry Keith, I’m pretty much down for the count this time.” His voice was laced with frustration at his helplessness, and not a little pain, “I’m unable to move my legs from the waist down, or feel them for that matter.” He admitted with a grimace. 

Confusion flashed across Keith’s face, marred by the ugly crack in his helmet screen before his eyebrows scrunched together with worry and determination steeled his eyes. Shiro’s own eyebrows rose to his hairline as he heard Keith shush Lance, violet eyes trained on trembling tan fingers struggling to sign something. Shiro grew concerned as Keith screamed at Lance, 

“Wake up! You’ve got to hang on!” He laughed sarcastically with a touch of desperation, “Wow! what an accomplishment, you can’t even beat me in staying awake!” 

He hoped that Lance’s competitive nature was still intact and would buy them some time. 

“Keith, what’s going on?” Shiro asked, sternly. Keith seemingly ignored him in favor of focusing on Lance. Keith sank to his knees, transferring Lance to his lap, arms cradling the Blue Paladin gently.

With growing concern and a little frustrated with Keith’s attitude, Shiro shuffled on his stomach closer to the duo, mouth open for a reprimand. He pushed himself up in the cobra position to face Keith eye to eye when he noticed the unhealthy pallor of Lance’s face. Then he saw Lance’s glassy ocean blue eyes begin to flutter close. Concern for his teammates shot through him, he knew the beginning signs of a concussion and it was imperative that Lance stay awake a little longer, until his brain settled. 

“Hey!” He yelped, “Lance you have to keep your eyes open. Come on buddy, listen to me. ” 

Blue eyes sluggishly blinked, unfazed by the loud voices. Shiro slid his prosthetic closer to his center of gravity, fighting to stay balanced on one arm. With the other he did the only other thing he could think of. He snapped his fingers in front of Lance’s nose. Hopefully the noise would rouse the blue paladin’s sleepy soul. It worked, startling the poor boy whose ocean blue eyes widened in surprise. 

“There you go, Lance. Just stay awake, it’s not that difficult, yeah?” Shiro asked, his concerned dad voice in full effect. 

Lance’s eyes widen a little bit more, showing some white. Quickly he nodded in small, jerky movements, nearly vibrating. He couldn’t disappoint Shiro again, not after he screwed up, bringing the team down with his injuries. Shiro drooped, closing his eyes and sighing in relief. Maybe he sounded too strict, but who could blame him? One of his cubs was hurt! Keith’s next question yanked Shiro out of his thoughts.

“Where are the others? Have you found them yet?” 

“Yeah, Pidge is in a canyon not too far from here. Hunk is currently on route and should be nearing her location.” 

Shiro cocked his eyebrow at the flash of confusion that graced Keith’s features, which disappeared in a scowl as he stared down at Lance in his lap. Shiro swallowed his next question as his gaze followed Keith’s to notice Lance’s trembling hand movement. Shiro paused, trying to decipher the gestures. He dismissed it a moment later, priorities came first and Shiro was more concerned with Keith’s rebellious attitude in ignoring him. 

Shiro drew his hand back to tap Keith on the thigh to forcibly gain his attention when Keith spoke, his voice broken and tired, “Lance...please stop translating...I’ll figure something out. Just stay awake...please...for me.” Keith whimpered the last part, bowing his head. Shocked Shiro suddenly remembered how Pidge had diagnosed Keith’s speakers to be broken. Keith wasn’t ignoring him, Keith couldn’t hear him. 

Lance’s hands moved once again, but this time meet no protest. His hands trembled terribly, but Lance forced them to be steady after a taxing mental battle, mind over matter, right? One of Lance’s hands formed a fist, the other one became a peace sign that was flipped upside down. Then Lance put his fist on top of the upside down peace sign, making sure to show his fingers bowing under the added weight. Then he showed his fingers staggering under the weight of the fist, struggling to move forward. 

Shiro stared wide-eyed at the display, his raised hand coming to rest under his torso at some point during Lance’s gesturing. Shiro narrowed his black eyes in thought, if he had to take a wild guess, he would say that it looked like a person struggling to uphold a massive boulder. The fist represented the boulder and his fingers represented a person’s legs. Lance then separated his hands, but he wasn’t done signing. He uncurled his thumb from his fist and allowed it to fall to his chest, thumb digging into his chest plate. With his other tan hand, he curled his middle finger, but left his pointer, instead straightening it. With some difficulty and hand shaking almost uncontrollably with fatigue, Lance managed to tap Keith’s breastplate once before his hand stilled and fell limply onto his chest with a dull thud. 

Shiro cocked his head, sign language wasn’t his forte but he thought he figured out Lance’s meaning. From what he witnessed, it looked like Lance was referring to the boulder as himself and Keith was the...struggling legs underneath it. His eyes widen in shock. Did Lance truly think of himself that way? Shiro opened his mouth to set the record straight, but Keith beat him to the punch. 

“Lance, you are not a burden.” 

Lance shot him quizzical look and Keith immediately responded. “You are the glue that holds our band of misfits together. You lighten the mood with your terrible jokes and ill-timed flirting when we’re all being crushed by the weight of our responsibilities. Without you we would never have even made it to space, let alone lasted this long in the fight against the Galra.” 

Keith internally panicked as Lance’s eyes dimmed a fraction. “And the best sharpshooter in the universe, you are the reason I can recklessly charge into battle, knowing that you’ve got our backs. Lance, the team needs you. I need you, so please don’t say you’re a burden. You aren’t and never will be a burden to us. ” 

Keith stated almost pleadingly, begging Lance to believe him. Shiro emphatically nodding beside him. A small smile crawled onto Lance’s lips, but only his lips. His blue eyes full of doubt, he clearly wanted his teammates to feel better. Shiro sighed, he wanted to do more, but arguing would only make things worse. It would waste time and energy and Lance would become more guarded of his feelings and insecurities. As much as both the red and black paladins wanted to banish the doubts that their blue paladin had, for now, they were helpless. 

Though that didn’t mean they were giving up on their teammate, quite the contrary, they were going to try harder than ever to convince the blue paladin of his worth. Now they would just have to find other ways to show it, such as verbal encouragement or a pat on the back. Shiro grimaced as he realized that he never individually praised Lance. He’d praise the group, but never Lance alone. Shiro’s eyes jerked to attention when Keith’s too loud voice sliced through his self-deprecating thoughts, he winced at the harsh volume. 

“Which direction, Shiro?” Keith asked, decidedly ignoring the doubt flooding Lance’s eyes. Right now they needed Lance to trust them. He gathered Lance in his arms and stood facing Shiro, who responded immediately, momentarily forgetting Keith’s lack of hearing. 

“South East.” 

“Point, please.” 

At those words, Shiro wanted to facepalm, thankfully he refrained, instead pointing to the left towards a black haze. Keith glanced down at the precious cargo in his arms, a smile tugging at the edge of his lips. He hoped it was a reassuring smile. They didn’t need Lance to realize that they saw through the crack in his mask or he’d clam up even more. 

“Alright, let’s go.” Keith turned to Shiro who nodded in confirmation. 

The trio set off, one dragging himself along the limestone type rock, one fighting to stay awake, and the last one marching along, cradling his teammate to his chest. They went on like this for a good fifteen minutes. Sweat trickled down Shiro’s forehead and his ragged breathing filled the air. They had been keeping this pace since the group started off. Frankly, it was a little too fast for Shiro’s current abilities. Had he been walking, the pace would have been fine, if a little slow. Shiro paused a moment, gasping for breath, arms aching from the strain, fingertips burning from scraping against the hard earth-like stone. 

Keith, oblivious to Shiro’s struggles continued at his breakneck pace. But a tap and a point from Lance caused him to turn around. He raised an incredulous eyebrow at the distance, but he simply made his way back to their leader. Upon closer inspection, Keith could see the sweat dripping down Shiro’s forehead in waves and saliva escaping his chapped lips in long sticky strains. Keith groaned, time was escaping them, but they couldn’t keep pushing Shiro at their current speed. Keith crouched down, back turned toward Shiro, arms still cradling Lance. 

“Get on.” He said bluntly. “Come on, Shiro.” 

He continued as he knew their leader’s stubborn tendencies to refuse help. “You can’t stand and we need to make better time. Don’t worry about me, I’m strong enough.” One could never say that Keith was tactful, but he was right in this instance. 

Keith missed the sigh, but he soon enough he felt the older man clamber onto his back, latching on with one arm over Keith’s left shoulder and one under Keith’s right armpit, curling his fingers around each other. The red paladin rose somewhat unsteadily as his body tried to compensate for the added weight. Then he pushed forward, ignoring his body’s calls for attention and rest, it was just mind over matter. 

As Keith returned to his death march pace, he felt a little bit of resistance as Shiro’s feet dragged uselessly behind them, leaving little skid marks in their wake. Keith huffed, little beads of sweat rolling down his pale skin. The once gooey snot dripping out of his nose had hardened, leaving behind crusty dried boogers in its place. Keith pushed his body to its limits, with Shiro gently guiding him when he veered off their path and talking to Lance, forcing him to stay awake.


	6. Back Together

Pidge sat cross-legged on the hard rocky ground, one elbow resting against her knee, cheek propped against her fist as her other hand traced countless patterns on the rock besides her. She was bored out of her mind. Well, could you blame her? She had been waiting over three hours for her teammates and they still had yet to show up. Contributing to her boredom were Shiro’s strict orders to stay put and not wander. She understood why, she truly did, but it was still so boooooring. It would have been bearable if her helmet wasn’t dark, then she could have played around with the coding on her wrist held screen. She sighed, her entire body deflating. 

‘Seriously,’ She thought. ‘How far away did they land anyway for them to take this long get to me?’ 

The scuffling of feet and labored breathing brought Pidge out of her thoughts. She quickly spun and stood, facing where she thought the sound had come from. 

“Who’s there!?” She cried loudly, trying to sound fierce.

“Whoa Pidge. Calm down, it’s just us.” She heard Shiro’s calming tone, urging her to calm down.

“Who’s ‘us’? Who is with you?” Pidge asked warily. She had never felt so out-of-control in her life not being able to see. She wouldn’t calm down till she knew exactly who was around. She wouldn’t put it past Shiro to bring back aliens or something. 

“Keith and Lance are with me.” Shiro responded immediately, sounding much closer. “Don’t worry, it’s just them. 

Pidge visibly relaxed, plopping back down onto the cool lime-stone like stone. The labored breathing sounded much harsher up close, as the person struggled to inhale oxygen. Pidge cringed as she heard a curse and dull thud as if something heavy fell onto the rocks. 

“S-sorry Shiro.” Pidge heard Keith pant before hearing Shiro reply, “It’s alright Keith, You did a good job. It’s thanks to you that we made it.” 

Then she heard a solid clap of armor against armor. Followed by a grunt and a scraping sound as if something heavy was being dragged across the ground. 

“What happened?” Pidge questioned. “Did something fall? I heard a curse and a thud. And you reprimand me for my language.” She muttered quietly. 

“Right.” Shiro groaned. “Your helmet is broken.” Pidge could imagine Shiro pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he let the groan escape his throat. 

She heard Shiro sigh again before he continued. “Keith was carrying both Lance and I. And well, he just came down faster than we were quite expecting.” 

Pidge squinted her eyes, not that it did her any good, she still couldn’t see out of her helmet. But it sounded as if Shiro was trying to downplay what had happened. 

Pidge frowned as she realized something. “Why was he carrying both of you?” 

Pidge heard Shiro sigh again. She could imagine that he was thinking that this girl was too smart for her own good. 

“Lance was struggling to stay awake-” 

Pidge couldn’t help but snicker. “Did he not get enough beauty sleep?” 

“Pidge.” Shiro snapped, he probably didn’t appreciate her poking fun at Lance. 

“What?” She couldn’t help but reply coyly. Then a deep sigh could be heard with a note of disappointment intertwined. 

“Anyway, I was injured during the crash landing and Keith had to help me along.” 

Pidge groaned, “Shiro! Why didn’t you tell us you were injured earlier?”

“It wasn’t important at the time, besides what would you have done? Hunk can’t use his arms and you can’t see.” 

Pidge growled, frustrated that Shiro was right, there was nothing they could have done. Pidge then realized something. 

“Shiro?” She asked, he hummed, indicating that he was listening. 

“Is Lance injured? He’s not talking, which is highly odd, normally we can’t get him to shut up.” 

Pidge waited in uncomfortable silence as Shiro collected his thoughts. 

“I don’t know.” He sighed. 

“What do you mean you don’t know know. Didn’t you ask?”

“No,” She heard his defensive tone. “There were other pressing matters.” 

“Like what?” Pidge nearly screeched, sarcasm biting into Shiro. 

“Like keeping Lance awake and GETTING TO YOU!” Pidge cringed as his tone rose with every word. Then she heard him sigh, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m just getting frustrated. But you're right, that should’ve been the first thing I checked. His voice faded, the fight draining out of him.

“Now, might be a wonderful time to ask!” Pidge retorted, her words scathing. 

“Alright, alright.” She heard some scuffling as Shiro scooted over to the blue paladin. Shiro laid a gentle hand on Lance’s arm, slightly startling the blue and red paladins. “Hey Lance, buddy, look at me. Don’t go to sleep yet. Can you tell me why you’re not speaking?”

Lance sluggishly blinked before more one hand up to his throat pulling down his collar to show a jagged wound slit across his throat. It wasn’t bleeding but it looked bad, red and puckered. Shiro sucked in a cold breath at the sight. Guilt gnawed at his stomach at the sight, “That happened in the crash?”

Lance nodded slowly, his eyes dimming again. Behind Shiro, Pidge squawked in annoyance, “Could someone please inform me of the situation?”

“Lance’s throat was cut in the crash, but I don’t really understand how since Lance is really groggy right now.”

“Groggy?” Pidge muttered to herself, “Why would he be groggy? That kind of injury shouldn’t affect him that way. And he should only be tired after walking to me.” Slowly the pieces fell into place.

“Shiro, check his eyes. Are they dilated?” Her voice was calm but devoid of emotion, belaying her concern.

“What, why? He’s just tired from translating for Keith’s broken speakers.”

“Quick! How dilated are his eyes!” Pidge exclaimed, “Shiro, just trust me.” 

“Only slightly.” 

“Good,” Pidge replied with a sigh of relief. “He probably hit his head and a got a minor concussion. If he went to sleep earlier, he might not have woken up again. But since his eyes are only slightly dilated he can go to sleep and be fine. We just have to wake him up every few hours to make sure his condition doesn’t change.” 

Pidge took in a gulp of air after her long-winded explanation. Shiro’s voice became slightly muffled, she assumed that he’d turned away to talk to Lance. His next words confirmed her theory. 

“You did well, Lance. It’s alright, you can to go to sleep now.” 

Pidge barely caught the last part as Shiro gently whispered, “Sleep well.” 

The trio waited in silence for the final member. Their impairments made it hard to converse all together and frankly, they were too exhausted to bother. The silence dragged on as it appeared that Hunk was taking his sweet ass time, Pidge hoped that nothing bad had happened to him. Half an hour later they heard heavy breathing as Hunk approached the group. 

“Hey…” He greeted, still trying to catch his breath, and flopped his arm in a slight wave. 

Shiro and Pidge immediately waved back, though Pidge was slightly off and waved just to the right of him. Keith completely ignored him, which in itself wasn’t weird, but Lance’s silence bothered Hunk tremendously. Hunk took a closer look at the group, all of them were resting on the ground Pidge sat crossed-legged and Shiro laid with his legs straight out, his arms locked, keeping his torso upright. Keith sat almost curled protectively around Lance, while Lance lay curled in Keith’s arms, eyes closed. 

“What’s wrong with Lance?” Hunk yelped, panic clouding his voice. 

“Relax Hunk,” Shiro said, his voice calm. “It’s alright. He’s just sleeping.” 

Shiro saw Hunk visibly relax, tense shoulders drooping with relief. Before Hunk could ask anymore about the situation Pidge interjected. 

“Good, now that you’re here. We can get down to business.” 

“Business?” Hunk asked, brows furrowing in confusion as he sat down with some difficulty. Hey, it isn’t easy sitting down with no hands. You try it sometime, see how it goes. He sat down a little hard, bouncing on his butt before settling down, legs crossed and arms hanging limp by his side. 

“The business of deciding our next move.” Pidge supplied. 

Hunk frowned, voicing his concern “Shouldn’t we included Lance and Keith in this conversation? I mean they are part of the team.” 

Shiro replied, “Yes, under normal circumstances we would all participate, but as Lance is currently sleeping and Keith’s speakers are broken, that makes things a tad more difficult. Especially since Lance was translating for him.”

“Oh, right. Totally forgot about that.” Hunk sheepishly said, “Could someone else translate?” ‘ 

“Unfortunately I can’t see and Shiro doesn’t know sign language.” Pidge pointed out.

“Couldn’t we write back and forth on the ground?” Hunk questioned. 

“Ground’s too hard.” Pidge replied, rapping her knuckle on the stone for emphasis. 

“Okay.” Hunk sighed. “What do we need to talk about?” 

“Tonight’s accommodations sounds like a good place to start.” Pidge said, a shiver coursing through her body from a cold breeze whipping across the desert like climate. 

“Yes.” Shiro agreed. “With the sun going down, so does the temperature.” 

Silence fell over the trio as each member thought about the best location. 

“How about the forest?” Hunk suggested. “The climate is warmer and we can use the trees for shelter.” 

Pidge nodded and Shiro replied. “That’s a great idea, Hunk.” 

“Though, I do have to put it out there. The trek isn’t easy, we basically have to go up a rough-cut staircase that is carved into the cliffside and the steps are huge. I should know, I had to climb down them to get to you guys. And since I couldn’t use my arms, it took even longer. That’s why I was so late getting to you guys. That’s why it took so long for me to get to you guys.” Hunk rambled, his voice raising with panic. 

Shiro held up a hand, effectively quieting Hunk. “It’s alright, Hunk. It’s not anything we can’t handle. 

“And,” Pidge interjected, her unseeing gaze falling about where Hunk’s stomach and chest were. “Anything beats staying in the canyon where the freezing wind has free rein to try and finish us off.” 

Hunk nodded reassured by their words. Then he thought about their various injuries. 

“Okay...How are we going to do this?” Hunk questioned, eyebrows pinched in a frown. A silence slowly encased the group as each member thought about the best way to move the team to the forest. Pidge spoke up after a time.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but to sum everything up, Shiro can’t use his legs, Hunk’s arms are useless, Lance is unconscious, Keith can’t hear, and I’m blind? So here’s my proposal, Shiro you piggyback on Hunk since he’s the strongest,” 

The yellow paladin blushed with pride, before asking a question, his voice trembling slightly. “What about you, Keith and Lance?” 

“I wwwaaasss getting to that.” Pidge drawled, elongating her words, her tone annoyed at the interruption. 

“Keith would continue to carry Lance and I would hold onto Keith’s suit, and before you interrupt me again,” Pidge huffed as she heard Hunk draw a breath. “Keith can guide me at the staircase just fine since he can see and talk.” 

Pidge grinned as she heard Hunk sigh, knowing that she had won.

“Now that that’s settled.” Shiro stated. “Let’s get going.” 

Both his teammates nodded their agreement. He dragged himself over to Hunk, clamoring onto his broad back. Once his arms were securely wrapped around Hunk’s shoulders, the yellow paladin leaned forward to balance the extra weight and struggled up onto his feet. Shiro helped by giving Hunk a push off the ground, using his prosthetic to carry the brunt of the weight, letting Hunk get to his feet. 

The duo strode over to Pidge. Shiro used one hand to grab Pidge’s hand, the other still wrapped around Hunk’s shoulders, Hunk quietly describing the layout of the stone in front of them. They guided Pidge over to where Keith was still cradling a sleeping Lance to his chest. Lance laid curled in Keith’s arms, his head nestled against Keith’s armored chest, soft breathing filling the air. Shiro placed Pidge’s hand on Keith’s shoulder, then he pointed at Keith then jabbed a thumb at himself and Hunk as if to say follow me. Keith nodded, hoping he understood what Shiro gestured. 

“Alright Hunk. Lead the way.” Shiro directed, and off the duo went heading the way that Hunk had come from previously. Keith slowly made his way to his feet, being careful not to jostle Lance and wake him up. He felt Pidge’s hand slid from his shoulder to his waist, fingers hooking around his belt. 

He sighed in relief, now he didn’t have to worry about her wandering off. 

He quickly followed the hufflepuffen paladins, he internally snorted at his description which sound like a Lance thing to say. The team went at a steady pace for about an hour before the stone staircase creeped into view. Keith huffed, he could feel drops of sweat trickling down the side of his face and the crusted burgers crack as he sniffled, still clinging to the underside of his nose and upper lip. Unfortunately for the paladins another hour went by as they walked across the bronze and ocean blue striped canyon floor before they stood in front of the crude stone staircase.


End file.
